DURBAN, South Africa: South Korea reached the second round of the World Cup by holding Nigeria to a 2-2 draw Tuesday in their final group game.
Defender Lee Jung-soo and Park Chu-young scored for South Korea after Kalu Uche had given Nigeria the lead in the 12th minute.
Ayegbeni Yakubu netted a 69th minute penalty to draw Nigeria level again, but the Africans squandered a couple of good opportunities to score a winner.
"During the game, we conceded the first goal and that was a tough situation," South Korea coach Huh Jung-moo said. "But the players stayed cool and leveled the score."
Argentina won Group B by beating Greece 2-0 in the other match, meaning Nigeria would have advanced with a win despite losing their first two games.
Argentina won all three games to finish with nine points, while South Korea had four points, Greece three and Nigeria one.
Nigeria coach Lars Lagerback was left ruing his team’s inability to finish.
"I was disappointed about all the chances," Lagerback said. "The players have done really well. They worked hard over time."
Captain Nwankwo Kanu said Nigeria had itself to blame for failing to progress, with its poor finishing.
"We created chances but didn’t make use of them," he said.
The only other time the Koreans got beyond the group stage was when the team surged to the semifinals in 2002 on home soil as tournament co-host with Japan.
South Korea had slightly more of the possession in the first half, but it was Nigeria that took the lead when Chidi Odiah beat two defenders on the right and sent in a low cross for Uche, who slipped in front of his marker Cha Du-ri to fire home from close range.
Uche nearly doubled the lead when his hard shot from outside the area hit the post. But amid the Nigerian pressure, Lee equalized in the 38th minute with his second goal of the tournament.
Ki Sung-yong floated a free kick to the far post and Lee stooped to head the ball, missed it and stuck his right foot out to volley it past goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama.
Park made it 2-1 just four minutes after the break when he curled a free kick around the wall and into the far corner of Enyeama’s goal — one of the few free kicks to produce a goal at this World Cup.
Five minutes later he nearly did it again, but his powerful free kick went just wide.
Yakubu missed a great chance to equalize in the 66th when he had an open goal but tapped the ball wide. But he made amends three minutes later and showed more composure in front of goal by slotting in a penalty after Kim Nam-il had fouled Chinedu Obasi.
Yakubu told Kanu he was stunned he missed the simple first chance.
Substitute Obafemi Martins came closest to snatching a victory for the Super Eagles when he ran onto a pass from Chinedu Obasi and chipped the ball over Jung only to see it drift just wide.
Martin Demichelis and Martin Palermo scored second-half goals Tuesday to help Argentina beat Greece 2-0 at the World Cup and earn the two-time world champions first place in Group B.
Argentina will play Mexico in the round of 16 on Sunday, while Greece has been eliminated.
"We are doing our duty. We are defending the Argentine jersey," Argentina coach Diego Maradona said. "Mexico is not going to be easy, a very difficult opponent. But we are calm and we are going to receive Mexico with all the respect Mexico deserves."
Demichelis scored from short range in the 77th minute after his header bounced off teammate Diego Milito and back into his path.
Palermo doubled the score in the 89th from a rebound after Greece goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas saved a shot by Lionel Messi.
Mnutes earlier, Messi’s hard left-foot shot hit the near post.
"A well-deserved victory, no doubt about that," Greece coach Otto Rehhagel said. "We wanted to avoid an early goal, we managed to do that, but of course Argentina has more class and that earned them the win."
Maradona made seven changes to the lineup that beat South Korea 4-1 five days earlier. Captain Javier Mascherano and strikers Carlos Tevez and Gonzalo Higuain were all benched. However, Messi did start and he was given the captain’s armband for the first time.
It made Messi, who turns 23 on Thursday, the youngest Argentina captain ever.
Midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron returned after missing the previous game with a right-calf injury.
Only goalkeeper Sergio Romero, Demichelis, midfielder Maxi Rodriguez and Messi have been in on the team for all three of Argentina’s games, ensuring the squad will be well rested for the round-of-16 clash with Mexico.
"They deserve a lot of respect," Maradona said of Mexico. "Even though they lost, they have their identity."
Although their game was less fluent than in previous matches, the two-time world champions dominated the match, especially in the first half at the 45,000-capacity Peter Mokaba Stadium, where Argentina fans clearly outnumbered their Greek counterparts.
Argentina initially preferred to keep possession instead of pushing to create chances.
The first shot on goal came in the 18th minute when Sergio Aguero picked up a pass by Veron and dribbled past two Greece defenders before his left-foot shot forced Tzorvas into a diving save.
In the next minute, Tzorvas pushed the ball over the crossbar after a 30-meter (yard) attempt by Veron.
In the closing minutes of the first half, Maxi and Messi both saw their powerful shots blocked by the keeper.
"We knew that if we put pressure on Greece, they would finally make a mistake," Maradona said. "We did that very well."
Aguero, Veron and Messi were the most active players. Milito was well neutralized by Greece’s five-man defense, while Sokratis Papastathopoulos committed several minor fouls while shadowing Messi and Georgios Samaras was a lonely striker up front.
